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Oman Taimur ibn Faisal, 1913-32
Taimur ibn Faisal succeeded his father as sultan in
October
1913. When he assumed suzerainty over the country, he
inherited
an external public debt and widespread rebellion among the
tribes. Between 1915 and 1920, the sultan's forces were
aided by
British financial and matériel support against the rebel
tribes,
ensuring adequate resistance but not total victory. An
uneasy
situation of no war, no peace, existed, with the sultan
controlling Muscat and the coastal towns and the imam
ruling the
interior. This was tacitly codified in the Treaty of As
Sib in
1920, brokered by the British political agent in Muscat.
The
treaty was between the sultan and the tribes, represented
by
Shaykh Isa ibn Salih al Harthi, leader of the Al Harth
tribe.
In return for full autonomy, the tribes in the interior
pledged to cease attacking the coast. The Treaty of As Sib
was,
de facto, a partition agreement between Muscat and Oman,
serving
Britain's interest in preserving its power through the
office of
the sultan without dispatching British troops to the
region. The
Treaty of As Sib ensured political quiescence between
Muscat and
Oman that lasted until the 1950s, when oil exploration in
the
interior reintroduced conflict. In return for accepting a
truncation of his authority, the sultan received a loan
from the
government of British India with an amortization period of
ten
years, sufficient to repay his debts to merchants. When
Sultan
Taimur ibn Faisal abdicated for financial reasons in 1932,
the
twenty-two-year-old Said ibn Taimur inherited an
administration
that was in debt.
A United States Department of State bulletin on the
sultan of
Muscat and Oman in February 1938 describes the situation
in which
Sultan Said ibn Taimur found himself after assuming power:
"The young Sultan found the country practically bankrupt
and his
troubles were further complicated by tribal unrest and
conspiracy
by certain of his uncles, one of whom immediately profited
by the
occasion to set up an independent regime. The Sultan
tackled the
situation with resolution and within a short time the
traitorous
uncle had been subdued, unrest quelled, and most important
of
all, state finances put on much more solid footing."
Data as of January 1993
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